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There is a rug in his father s shop that Mustafa loves. (It has a hole in it, so you can put it over your head and still see out.) No one else wants the rug, though lots of tourists visit the shop. His father always welcomes them "Bienvenue" and offers them tea "O cha wa ikaga desu ka?" Mustafa s father would like him to know some words in other languages too, and he tells Mustafa that he may have the rug if he agrees to learn. But after the first lesson, Mustafa is so bored he runs out of the shop (with the carpet on his head). Ending up at the market, he finds a very different way of learning foreign languages...and of getting tourists to visit his father s shop.

Review

"Besides a gentle cultural lesson in how even animals sound different in different countries, Ichikawa s glowing pictures, with their radiant colors and slightly exaggerated forms, present an engaging image of a Moroccan marketplace and of a boy who can find a dozen ways of playing with a rug with a small hole." --- Booklist

"...a multicultural book in every sense of the word...simultaneously points out cultural differences and brings cultures together." --- Multicultural Lit for Children and YA

"The vibrant watercolors are full of action and fun as the artist captures the many expressions on the faces of vendors and tourists. A joyous story that brings people from different cultures together." --- Kirkus Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

No matter what your culture, creed, or standard of living, there is one creature in this world that draws universal ire and attention. The tourist. Many of us find ourselves becoming that dreaded beast at least once in our lifetimes, but there aren't that many picture books that go so far as to comment on them. Enter in, "My Father's Shop", by Satomi Ichikawa. Written by a Japanese born Parisian resident about a Moroccan bazaar, this is one of those international picture books with particularly good credentials. It's even nicer that the story is an interesting one as well.

Mustafa spends the day working in his father's carpet shop. Because of the nature of his job (a Moroccan marketplace) Mustafa's dad must know a variety of different languages with which to communicate with tourists. One day, the boy finds a rug with a big hole in the center. When Mustafa pleads to keep it for his very own, his father agrees but on the condition that his son learn some foreign phrases. This lasts for a little while, but the boy quickly becomes bored and shoots off into the nearby marketplace. There he finds himself followed by a rooster. Suddenly all the tourists and locals are telling the boy what their culture teaches that the rooster says. In England it's "Cock-a-doodle-doo", while in Spain it's, "Qui-qui-ri-qui". Mustafa runs home to tell his father all about the many languages he's learned and inadvertently leads the tourists to his father's stall where they do some mighty fine business.

On the bookflap we learn that author/illustrator Satomi Ichikawa, "never attended art school". Remarkable? That doesn't even begin to cover it.Read more ›

Mustafa's favorite place in Morocco is his father's shop, where he loves the world of colors, fabrics and languages - but a small boy can find one packed shop too intense, and a stroll through the local marketplace brings variety with more encounters with people. Here Mustafa learns how to welcome tourists and others in their native languages - and it's here that a father's lessons can come to life with encounters which lend to their use.

There you have it. Five expressions of a rooster's greeting in one children's book. But wait! There's more in "My Father's Shop!" This is a true multicultural story of the intermingling of five cultural groups, albeit short, but delightfully inspiring!

The illustrator/writer Satomi Ichikawa is Japanese by birth and French citizen by choice. She sets her story in Morocco in a bazaar of various tradespeople, including the carpet shop, site of our story. Mustafa is the small boy, learning the trade of his father, who is quite proud of the carpets he sells. And he should be! They are bright, richly colored, finely woven, and eye-candy beautiful.

When Mustafa finds a carpet with a hole in the center, he begs his father to let him have it. With this disguise over his head, Mustafa heads out into the thriving marketplace where a rooster wearing the same intense colors as the carpet flocks to Mustafa. Then the interaction with tourists and rooster languages take place. Everyone is friendly, but why wouldn't they be? Some are tourists by choice, others are tradesmen who make their living selling to everyone. But the spirit of community is so obvious.

One of the great customs of North Africa is tea drinking with a slant. Arabs drink a strong, sweetened mint tea in narrow glasses about three inches high. It is unique and delicious. Mustafa's father shares a glass of tea with customers who buy his carpets.

When Mustafa returns home to tell his papa about rooster languages, he brings with him all the tourists who happily enter the carpet shop. They will have stories to tell when they return home!

"My Father's Shop" is not profound, but it certainly delivers the goods! Children will love it!

Our international family likes this one a lot. The little boy in the Moroccan carpet shop meets tourists from around the world and learns about different languages: English, Spanish, Japanese, French. A good find!